Thursday, December 27, 2018
Steve Chapman: The surprising truth about 'gun deaths'
This writer points out how statistics continue to be misused to support the anti-gun movement...
Here's the beginning of an article by Steve Chapman from the Wisconsin State Journal:
"CHICAGO — If you’re thinking of venturing outside your home today, the news may change your mind.
'Gun deaths in US reach highest level in nearly 40 years, CDC data reveal,' blared Thursday’s headline on CNN.com. A press release from Everytown for Gun Safety noted that '39,773 people were killed by gun violence in 2017 — approximately 1,100 more than were killed by motor vehicle accidents.'
The picture these announcements evoke is of mass shootings and random gun crimes that pose a mortal danger to every American. But that image is not quite accurate. The number of homicides actually declined last year — and is believed to have fallen again this year. Our streets have gotten safer.
So what gives? When gun control advocates cite 'gun deaths,' they are not talking just about slayings of people by other people. Sixty percent of these deaths, it turns out, are not homicides but suicides. Most of the people who inflict fatal gunshot wounds harm only themselves."
